The year 2001 marked the 225th anniversary of the first
American crisis.

America's First Crisis

General George Washington and the Continental Army
spent almost half the American Revolution in this small state. From 1775
to 1783, New Jersey was home to a series of decisive events in the war
for independence. Strategically located between the Continental Congress
in Philadelphia and the British Army in New York, and midway between
the New England colonies and the American South, New Jersey was the spot
where Patriots, Tories, British and Hessians maneuvered; where Trenton,
Princeton and Monmouth witnessed dramatic American victories; and where
the Continental Army endured the hardest winter of the century. It was
at Nassau Hall at Princeton University that the Continental Congress
convened in 1783. And it was in New Jersey that General George Washington
delivered his farewell orders to the Continental Army.

House of Decision. The Thompson House sits just upriver from McConkey's Tavern, where George Washington and several officers ate Christmas dinner before embarking on the historic Delaware River crossing in 1776. The Thompson House served as a hospital ward for wounded soldiers, and was the scene of several war councils, including the one at which Washington decided to make the bold attempt to capture the Hessians at Trenton. The painting is the first in a series by Dan Campanelli that follows the footsteps of George Washington and the pathways of the American Revolution.

Having declared their great ambition in July of 1776, a rough assemblage,
representing 13 colonies without previous history of great cooperation,
faced the most powerful military force in the world. Most historians
agree that, had the British army and navy vented full wrath in the war's
early stages, the founding fathers might well be remembered only as a
band of renegades hunted down and hung for treason.

Indeed, even as the esteemed signatures graced the Declaration, British
ships arrived in New York Bay during the week of July 4, and, by mid-August,
32,000 British troops resided on Staten Island. 15,000 more soldiers
landed near the narrows on Long Island and forced Washington's army of
9,500 men to escape under cover of night. After a victory at Harlem Heights,
Washington was forced to withdraw at the Battle of White Plains in late
October. The fall of Fort Lee in November began Washington's retreat
across New Jersey, through Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, and finally
across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania on December 8, 1776.

Seventeen days later, on Christmas night, 2,400 men accompanied the
great General back across an ice-choked river, marched nine miles, and
achieved surprise against a garrison of Hessian troops at Trenton during
the desperate counter attack. The victorious army returned to Pennsylvania
until December 30 when they crossed again.

Richard Simon, Trustee and Vice President of the Washington Association
of New Jersey, imagines the subsequent events this way. "General Washington
was astride his horse, surrounded by his senior officers, holding a council
of war at Kingston, New Jersey, a few miles east of Princeton on the
afternoon of January 3, 1777. His army had decisively defeated two British
contingents at Princeton earlier in the day. The afternoon before, he
had repulsed an attack by Lord Cornwallis at the so-called Second Battle
of Trenton, where the American troops were encamped on the south bank
of the Assinpunk Creek. Cornwallis had planned to renew his attack the
next day, allegedly stating 'we'll bag the old fox in the morning.' But
Washington pulled his troops out at midnight, making a secret march up
to Princeton.

"Now, Washington had to decide where to take his army next. It was tempting
to proceed on to New Brunswick and attack a relatively small contingent
of British soldiers stationed there. They were guarding their prize captive,
General Charles Lee, ammunition, and £70,000 in specie (a commodity
in short supply in the Revolutionary Army). One can't help imagining,
however, that Washington pulled out his watch and calculated that his
troops needed a rest, having fought two battles and without sleep and
provisions for nearly 36 hours. He also knew that an outwitted and revengeful
Cornwallis was on his way up from Trenton in hot pursuit. Contemplating
his three recent successes, which included the overwhelming defeat of
the Hessians at Trenton on December 26, we can imagine Washington saying
to himself in the vernacular, 'I rolled the dice thrice and won; I think
I'll quit while I'm ahead.' The decision was thus made to end the campaign,
and head immediately for a winter encampment at Morristown, a strategic
and naturally protected location.

"Late that afternoon, the Americans marched to Somerset Courthouse (today's
Millstone) and camped. The next day they proceeded to Pluckemin where
the troops rested the nights of January 4 and 5. On Monday, January 6,
Washington and his troops marched triumphantly into Morristown, where
the General took up his headquarters at Jacob Arnold's Tavern overlooking
the Green. Washington's 'first coming' to Morristown lasted until early
May of that year."

Washington's army had yet to endure the legendary adversity the following
winter at Valley Forge, and again at Morristown two years later in 1779-80,
when the Jockey Hollow encampment made Morristown
the third largest city in the Colonies. During this second winter at
Morristown, General Washington lived and made his headquarters in a relatively
new two-story house on the outskirts of town built by Jacob Ford, Jr.
The struggles at Jockey Hollow to keep the Continental Army intact, as
crucial for American independence as any other, were waged more in hearts
and minds than on the battlefield. But it was, by then, an army and a
General well-steeled by the first American crisis in 1776-77.

Comments

There is a historical marker on the Asbury-Andersontown road in Warren
County, N.J. It states that the Continental Army retreated along that road
after the battle of Long Island. Are there any maps that could confirm such
a route? Or, are there any historical accounts that could confirm such?

I'm doining a school projecton New JErsey in colonial days up until the end
of the American REvolution.. do you know anything about New JErsey during
Colonial Times?

David Lane06 Oct 2010, 20:42

I am reading "Campaign of Chaos...1776.by Peter Henderson. It is the most
informative history of the Revolutionary war covering Fort Lee, NJ/Fort
Washington, NY and surrounding area of the Hudson River (North River) and
Easr River. I recognize all the places as described in Henderson's book.
More of interest my great grand uncle was second Mayor of Fort Lee. The
family dates back to Patrick McAvoy and Mary Crowley buried in Madonna
Cemetery in the early 1800's.

Thank you very much for this very good and very informative story which
helped me learn the role of New Jersey in the war. My 6th
great-grandfather, Issac Voorheis, lived in Somerset and fought in the
militia with General Washington. His story is revealed in his application
for a pension when he was 86 years old.

jack lukis03 Feb 2010, 14:43

Is there verification to the above question regarding whether George
Washington had a headquarters in Burlington, New Jersey during the war?

Mayor James A. Fazzone28 Jun 2008, 08:57

As Mayor of the City of Burlington, New Jersey I have noticed a map in City
Hall that cites a Headquarters of George Washington on High Street in
Burlington. Do you have any information to confirm or refute this
map?\r\n\r\nMayor Jim Fazzone\r\n

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